the East River. I was not able during the winter to be with him, as the house in which he had his quarters was not habitable for me, as it was possible to heat only a few rooms in it. My husband, accordingly, went back and forth, which he easily did all winter, as everything was quiet. The autumn before he was appointed to this post, he had a severe relapse of his old complaint, caused probably by a cold which he caught by going in sea-bathing while heated. He suddenly became perfectly stiff, and could not speak; and had it not been for friend Colonel Wurmb, who fortunately was in his room, it might, perhaps, have been all over with him. The doctor immediately opened a vein and rubbed him strongly, and God once more spared him to me; but his cramps, oppressions, headaches, and drowsiness increased. All the physicians gave it as their opinion that the climate thoroughly disagreed with him, and that he never would be any better as long as he remained in the Southern provinces of North America. Still, there was nothing else for us to do. My husband could not think of receiving permission to leave, and was, therefore, obliged to remain at his post.

1781.

"In the spring of 1781, I also settled down on Long Island, where we, although pretty lonesome, might have lived perfectly contented if we only could have been without solicitude; but, as the river was not frozen over, the Americans constantly attempted surprises in order to take prisoners. Major Maybaum was drawn out of his bed, and we knew that they aimed to do the same thing with my husband. Our house was situated close to the shore, and was perfectly isolated, so that if they had overcome the watch, they could easily have carried him away. Every one was therefore constantly on the watch. Throughout the entire night, at the slightest noise, he would wake up and place himself in readiness for an attack, and thus he lost considerable sleep. I also became

so accustomed to watching, that daylight would often surprise me, when I would lie down and catch a few hours' sleep; for it was only when my husband believed that I was wide-awake and on guard, that he would allow himself to sleep, so terrible was to him the thought that he might again be taken prisoner. We had from our house a magnificent prospect. Every evening I saw from my window the City of New York, entirely lighted up; and, as the city is built close to the shore, I saw its reflection in the water. We heard, also, the beating of the drums; and, if everything was particularly still, even the calls of the sentinels. We had our own boat, and could cross over in it to New York in a quarter of an hour."

During the Revolution, the house No. 1 Broadway-to which allusion has been made on a preceding page-was the head-quarters and general rendezvous of the British generals and other army officers.* In like manner,

* Connected with the house No. 1 Broadway, built in 1742, and now the oldest house in New York city, there is quite an amusing reminiscence. Previous to this year (1742) the site was occupied by an old tavern kept by a Mrs. Kocks, built fifty years before by her husband, Pieter Kocks, an officer in the Dutch service, and an active leader in the Indian war of 1693. Connected with this personage there is an interesting as well as amusing episode. According to Judge Daly, in The Historical Magazine for January, 1871, it appears that in 1654 this same Pieter Kocks, then a single man, residing in New Amsterdam, brought an action, in the Court of Burgomeisters and Schepens, against Anna Van Vorst, who is described as a maid living at Ahasimus, for a breach of promise of marriage mutually entered into between them, in confirmation of which he had made her certain gifts. It would seem, however, as the record states, that the lady had misgivings, and was not disposed to marry him. On her part, she proved, by two witnesses, that he had agreed to give her up, and had promised to give her an acquittal in writing. But the court would not excuse her; "as the promise of mariage," says the court," was made before the Omnipotent God, it shall remain in force;" and they held that neither should marry any other person without the approval of the court; that the presents should remain with the lady until they were married, or until, by mutual consent, they were exempted from the contract; and they were equally condemned in the costs of the suit. This Anna Van Vorst is supposed to have been a daughter of the first emigrant by Vrouwtje Ides, and was the ancestor of our fellow-citizen Hon. Hooper C. Van Vorst.

Since speaking of this house on page 152, a writer in the New York Even

the BEEKMAN HOUSE (the site of the present Journal of Commerce Building) was at the same time the head-quarters of the British naval officers. This continued to be so during the entire war, and, indeed, had been so before the Revolution. Admirals Charles Hardy (Admiral of the Blue) and John Digby (Admiral of the Red) were often here. The

late King of England, William IV, who, as the Duke of Clarence and a midshipman, came over here with Admiral Digby, in the St. George, in 1782, made this house his place of resort on shore. His German tastes were shown by his taking every occasion, when off duty, to skate on the Kolck or Collect Pond (now the site of the ing Post has given currency again to the story that it was built by Captain Kennedy. Let this question be forever set at rest. The Watts family acquired the ownership to the property of No. 1 Broadway through Sir Peter, Admiral Warren, who, as stated on page 152, built the house. Captain Archibald Kennedy, who, late in life, succeeded to the Scotch Earldom of Cassilis, married a daughter of John Watts-a niece of Sir John Johnson's wife, née Miss Mary Watts-and by this marriage acquired the property in question. This is all the connection that Kennedy ever had with the house in dispute.

*

Tombs). His companion on these occasions was Gulian Verplanck - the grand-uncle of the late Gulian C. Verplanck-who once rescued him from drowning when he had broken through the ice and fallen into the Pond. The changes which have taken place from time to time in the lines of roads and streets, have greatly altered the aspect of the entire neighborhood. The calm and quiet life of the ancient Hollanders in this locality has given place to scenes of which they had little dreamed. Within a stone's-throw of the Journal of Commerce Building, Wall Street, with its fibers stretching out into every part of the civilized globe, controls the destinies of millions of human beings. Where the good Mrs. Beekman and her five daughters attended to their household duties in the old Dutch kitchen, a steam-engine now drives a printingpress. Where they sat waiting for news from "home" by ships that were months in coming, editors now sit, and receive in the afternoon the morning's news in England and Holland.†

At length a definite treaty of peace was entered into by the United States and Great Britain on the 3d of September, 1783; and on the 25th of November of the same year-just seven years, two months, and ten days 1783. from the time the British had occupied New York in triumph-Washington entered the city at noon-at the

*Afterward President of the Bank of New York, in which office he continued until his death, in 1799.

William Beekman had a country-seat three miles from the City Hall, and a house on his plantation in the lower part of the city. His down-town house was located on the spot which is now the site of the Journal of Commerce building. The old road to the fort, from the ferry on the East River, then at Peck Slip, ran along the shore nearly to the foot of Wall Street, when it turned and passed the Beekman House, which was probably erected with reference to this highway. In 1712, a negro riot broke out near Hanover Square, and Adrian Beekman (a son of Gerard, who had been owner of this and other property), rushing out of his residence to help quell the insurrection, was stabbed by a negro. As a result of this riot, nineteen slaves were executed.